Appearing on CNN’s “Larry King Show” the other night, she argued that Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are the new voices not just of the Republican Party but of America.

King kept noting that the actual appeal of Beck – the hot new “star” of the right – and his compatriots is minuscule when compared with the potential audience. “They’re talking (to) about 1 percent of the population,” observed the veteran cable host. “They had no effect on the election. … Would you want them to be the voice of the Republican Party?”

In fact, only the grand old man of right-wing talk radio, Limbaugh, can stake a reasonable claim on a listenership that exceeds 5 percent of the population. And even by Limbaugh’s wildest estimates of his appeal, his listenership does not account for 10 percent of the voting-age population.

But Bachmann wasn’t interested in real numbers, or in the very real prospect that she was proposing a strategy that could further narrow the appeal of a Republican Party that has yet to rebound in the polls after two dismal election cycles.

Here, courtesy of the keen observers at Think Progress, is a snippet of the conversation:

KING: Would you want the Limbaugh, that crowd – would you want them to be your voice as the Republican Party stands in this country?

BACHMANN: Well, remember it’s who the American people are referring to, Larry. And the American people are looking to voices like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Glenn Beck…

This feels a little like whistling past the graveyard, James. I’m not sure that the Left looks to a single set of voices for validation of their ideas. Yeah, they’re out there but, as you say, they don’t count for much individually.

The question you might ask is why the Left had greater numbers in 2008 while Fox had a better numbers book. If Bachmann is looking to the fringe for critical mass then it’s just one more thing she doesn’t understand. The Left doesn’t need a screamer like Beck, won’t idolize a fool like Limbaugh in quite the same way. That is the answer for which you’re looking.

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Wiggypolls

What is the best part of Thanksgiving?

Family (17%, 1 Votes)

Thanking God (17%, 1 Votes)

Watching football (17%, 1 Votes)

Answering online polls (17%, 1 Votes)

Cranberries, because Wisconsin, dammit (17%, 1 Votes)

Wine, more wine (17%, 1 Votes)

Tryptophan (0%, 0 Votes)

Listening to someone drone on how they cooked a turkey in a stone oven they hand built in their backyard (0%, 0 Votes)